Antisocial
by reegreeg
Summary: He was a boy, she was a girl; can I make this any more obvious?


**A/N: I was bored and waiting for my brother's toast to pop.**

**(I know it's been done a thousand times before but this is my version. Dina/Rupert. I don't own Fossil Fighters. OOC warning.)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

She wasn't sure why she was there.

There was no doubt she looked the part, with her orange-blonde hair cascading down her back, wavy and shiny, and her ocean-blue strapless dress with matching flats. Pauleen had done her makeup and two strangers had stopped her on the way there to ask her if she would accompany them to the dance instead of whoever she was taking.

But being the girl she was she turned them down, plain and simple.

She could hear couples inside the ballroom laughing and talking, cheering occasionally at the songs playing or wolf-whistling at...oh, who knew. People kissing. People doing backflips.

People doing all the things Dina Felicity McAllister definitely wouldn't.

* * *

He wouldn't have left he punch bowl if it weren't for the empty promise of meeting someone as antisocial as he was.

"Come on, Rupert," said the pink-haired girl, tugging on his wrist.

"No."

She had looked harmless. Plus, he had known her for years. Your friends don't try to ruin your life, simple as that, because those were the rules.

Pauleen had left her latest victim, a small boy in green, alone on the dance floor, where he stood looking confused. Part of Rupert wondered if he should ask _her_ out. She was definitely pretty, with her brilliant emerald eyes, flawless tan skin, legs for days, and all that jazz. But she moved in different social circles than him. She wasn't a pariah. She wasn't alone.

Besides, what would Father say?

Ah, that question. Rupert knew there was probably someone at the party he was "supposed" to dance with, for the sake of the company, so they could sell more, work more. That was obviously the reason this dance existed.

_It's all for the company, Rupert,_ he chided himself. _If you do this FossilDig Inc. could go worldwide. Do it for that._

"Look, R," said Pauleen, more insistently this time, snapping him out of his reverie. "She talks less than you do. You're like a match made in heaven."

"All because of that, huh?"

"Hurry up! I promised Todd I wasn't a player, and I'm losing my chance to prove that." She rolled her eyes when it became clear he wasn't budging. "Plus, she's a Fossil Fighter. You could be an Antisocial Fossil Fighting club."

He sighed, set down his glass, and reluctantly followed his friend towards the double doors leading out to one of the ballroom's many balconies.

"This had better be worth it."

* * *

Dina's heart leapt in her throat when she had seen him out of the corner of her eye. She told most people (well, her parents and Pauleen) that she didn't _do_ boys, or girls for that matter; she was much too shy for romance of any sort.

But that didn't stop her from secretly harboring feelings for the principal's son. He'd never spoken a word to her and he barely ever looked at her. To her credit she didn't make it very clear she was crushing on him: No D+R or Mrs. Rupert doodles in her notebook, no talking about him. Sure, she was shy around him, but she was shy around microwaves. That proved nothing.

So why was he walking towards her?

Maybe he was psychic and read her mind about her crush and had come to tell her he was taken. Maybe she was being expelled but Principal Evans hadn't had the time to tell her in person, so he had sent his son.

"So why aren't you dancing?"

Okay, maybe he wanted to make small talk. That was understandable. People talked to each other all the time.

Except he didn't talk to her.

(Neither thought kept her heart from doing its little gymnastics routine or the butterflies in her stomach from turning her insides into a mosh pit.)

"I-I've never been one for dances," she answered as calmly as possible, making sure not to lift her head and turn around to look at the silver-haired teen.

"Why not?" he asked, leaning over the railing next to her, staring at the same spot on the ground that she was.

She didn't answer.

He didn't say anything for a while from that point on, creating quite the awkward silence, but that was fine with her. Better nobody saying anything than Rupert saying something - this way made her hyperventilate less.

Finally he spoke.

"You're Dina, right?"

Shocked, she nodded.

"I- uh- how did...how did you know?"

"You're in my history class."

"Yeah, but you've never spoken a word to me."

"I don't talk much."

"Me neither."

More silence. The sky was even darker and people had started filing out of the room when Dina worked up the courage to talk again.

"Look, a-all this is nice, but I have...to...go," she finished lamely. She turned away and started towards the doors.

"Oh?"

He didn't look up and he didn't sound like he believed her, either.

"Fuh...fine," she sighed. "This is getting awkward, because I..." She let the sentence trail off and mentally cursed herself for slipping up like that.

Oh gods, he still wasn't looking up, he must have hated her so, so much.

* * *

Rupert kept looking at the ground, mind churning. She...something. Something that could have been anything.

She could have hated him, which he supposed was better than the alternative. Rupert wasn't sure how one dealt with liking people who liked you back.

Heck, he wasn't sure how to deal with liking people, period. He guessed she was pretty and he guessed she was nice, but hating people was really so much simpler.

Rupert took a shot in the dark.

"I like you too, if that's what you were trying to say."

He turned around to face her. She was gaping at him, blushing furiously, clutching her skirt so hard her knuckles were white.

_Oh no, _he thought, _wrong thing to say, wrong thing to say..._

He felt his own cheeks redden and took a few large strides to the doors.

"Well, I guess that wasn't it," he said. "See you around."

"No...wait," said Dina softly.

"Yes?"

He turned around again and raised an eyebrow.

"That was what I was gonna say," she whispers. "But I was too-"

* * *

Then he leaned down and she leaned up and that was that.

* * *

She never did finish her sentence, and later, when she recounted her story for friends, vivosaurs, and family alike, she decided to omit that part entirely.

Because nowadays Dina Felicity McAllister didn't do shy and antisocial.

* * *

**A/N: There. I burned the toast- I mean, wrote a one-shot. Yay me. I tried keeping it under a thousand words but...meh.**

**Review. It would make my day.**


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